Patchwork Pony Sustainable Sew Along Part 1

Welcome to Part One of the Patchwork Pony Sustainable Sew Along!! We will begin by concentrating on creating our outer panels for the pony.

Firstly a HUGE thanks to everyone who has purchased the pony pattern! I was overwhelmed by the response and will have a lovely big donation for Create and Sustain ready to send at the end of the Sew Along!

Secondly let’s talk about a change to our schedule, as illustrated in this updated badge below.

SCHEDULE

I had originally set the dates over February to give plenty of time between stages. But I am sensing a ‘chomping at the bit’ (nice horsey reference there!) to get going faster with your pony making, judging by comments from those that bought the pattern at the weekend.

So I’m thinking that a week and a half might be a bit long to wait to start sewing your pony together! With that in mind I have decided to bring forward Part 2 and 3 posts by a week. That means Part 2 lands on Monday and Part 3 the following Monday.

BUT I have kept the final date for sharing our ponies at the end of the month! I don’t want anyone getting stressed out, there is still plenty of time to get one, two or however many ponies and unicorns you want to make finished, shared and entered to the prize draw.

I just didn’t want you guys getting too frustrated and forging ahead without my helpful posts (which is also fine if you want to!). Of course please feel free to just ignore the schedule completely and make your pony at any pace you want!

SEW ALONG

For those of you coming to this for the first time please read this post for all the SAL info. If you want to join in but haven’t bought the pattern yet then it is available as a digital PDF from website here.

If you buy the pattern and the order confirmation email (with download link) doesn’t arrive PLEASE check your junk/spam folders! If you can’t find it then EMAIL ME! I can send it to you but only through an email to [email protected]

So now back to Part one of the SAL – preparing the outer panels. We will start with…

PATCHWORK SQUARES

This whole thing started off with my embroidered denim pony which was constructed using 1 1/2″ squares (2″ unfinished).  I’ve just made a second version of this using a furnishing fabric swatch book. The fabric was sturdy and thick so perfect for the pony (with no need to quilt).

You will find all the information in your pattern for how many squares you need to cut and there is a layout diagram for putting the squares together in the right order but I thought I would tell you how I go about it. In the image above you can see how I piece the squares into pairs of rows (it’s missing the top row).

I always chain piece these and it’s quite a nifty technique which some of you may not be familiar with so let’s take a look in more detail.

First I lay them out beside my machine in 2 rows (top left). I then sew these together in pairs (with the right hand square on top) going straight on to the next pair so as not to waste thread and so they are joined together like a string of flags (top right).

Next I open them out and finger press the seams in opposite directions (I always press my seams to one side). You can also do this at the ironing board but a firm ‘nail press’ is enough.

I then sew these pairs together, still attached by the threads. This is the clever bit as you can’t lose track of which one goes next (and I spent a bit of time planning how these squares would look and getting a good balance to the panel) or flip a pair around accidentally.

Your seams will nestle nicely together because of your pressing opposte ways and you will achieve perfect points too!

Here is a look at the finished strip and the other side so you can see the seams. When it comes to pressing the next seam I would go to the iron and press them to the side in the direction they most wanted to go.

Once you have sewn all your strips together in the correct placement (and made sure your second piece is a mirror image!) they will look like this.

Now it’s time to cut out your pony pattern shape. Pin in place and cut around carefully. Turn pattern over to the other side to cut out your mirror image. The pattern INCLUDES seam allowances.

IMPORTANT! I used a scant quarter inch seam to piece these. Are you sure you are sewing with a scant quarter inch? If not do please google some tutorials to see how you check this.

If you find your squares panel is too small for your pony pattern it’s because your seams are too big! From years of teaching I know that quilters are often convinced they are using a quarter inch seam when they are not. And with so many squares even the tiniest discrepancy will make a difference to the overall size.

If it turns out that your pattern piece is a bit big for the squares panel then you can just cut the whole thing a little smaller and it will all still work. You will have a little more gusset strip to trim once pieced but other wise it will all work out fine as long as both sides are the same. You could also add on a few extra squares to make it bigger enough!

As I have now cut through a lot of beautiful pieced seams (with locked seams at both ends) I like to stay stitch around the edge of the pony shape with a small zig-zag stitch (below left).

This is also the time to attach your ear and here I chose to zig zag this at the same time (though this isn’t necessary, straight stitch is fine, I was just being efficient!).

Let’s have a closer look at making the ear. I use Aurifil 12wt cotton (or wool) to sew a running stitch around the curved edge of the 2 felt pieces. I do this two-handed (not like quilting), going in one direction fully then back down and through to the other side. This way your stitches should look the same on both sides of the ear.

As you will read in your pattern, you can add your eye now or later. Above you can see how I have marked the space for the eye with a pin. I tend to machine around the white felt eye with a top stitch now and finish the embroidery with black thread when the pony is finished. I feel I need to go through the whole process of creation before fully ‘giving birth’ to the pony with his eyes. But that’s probably just me being weird!

Because of this we will leave any more ‘eye chat’ till part 3. Though you will find full instructions in the pattern if you want to forge ahead.

And here is a pic of the finished pony. I really should give them names now I have so many. In my head I call this one ‘handsome boy’!  He has the best mane out of all of them and the furnishing fabric makes him look so smart.

Maybe you don’t want to make a horse out of such regular patchwork which needs such a degree of accurate piecing? Well let’s have a look at a more improvised panel.

SCRAPPY PATCHWORK

You will find many different ideas for making your outer panels listed in the pattern. I had already tried using Orphan Blocks in my Tiny House Pony (now a unicorn) but I wanted to try what I call ‘scrappy improv’.

So I created these two panels using scraps and half finished oddments like left over HSTs and off cuts from my freehand curves landscape class. I worked with the pattern in mind, starting from the centre and heading up towards the awkward head shape and then adding the legs until I had created a big enough panel to fit the pony pattern with extra to spare.

As these are all regular craft cotton I decided to quilt them to give them more strength.

I cut out the shape of the pony but left about a quarter inch extra all the way around as I know that heavy quilting may shrink the panels somewhat.

I basted the panels to batting using spray and then roughly cut them out. I don’t use a backing fabric but I understand some sewing machines don’t like batting directly next to the throat plate. In this case do use something light such as calico or muslin for a backing.

Can you see that little applique shape sticking out of the panel top right?  If I had cut through that the hand stitching would have come undone so I left it until after I had quilted over it.

I decided to use Aurifil 40wt in a variegated grey shade #4664.

I love matchstick quilting! I started with one line across the centre of the panel using a pieced line as a guide. Then I moved outwards in one direction leave one stitch length between each row. My stitch length is set to 4. I like to leave occasional spaces of 3-4 stitch lengths which I will fill later with hand quilting.

This is how it looks from the back.

I then trimmed this to size using the pattern piece and my rotary cutter.  I stay well clear of the junctions at top of legs and neck though and finish these with scissors later (as it is too easy to cut through your panels there).

Using Aurifil 12wt cotton in bright colours to match the fabrics I hand quilted some ‘big stitch’ rows to fill the spaces I’d left. This just adds such a pleasing texture. For years I have been making these scrappy improv matchstick quilted panels for pouches, it’s nice to create something else with them here.

I will be using these panels to record a video tutorial for the ‘sewing the pony’ stage. This will be in the Part Two post on Monday. Of course you may want to just go ahead and make the pony with out watching this and I am sure you will be fine! But it’s coming anyway for those who want a bit more hand holding (and are patient!).

VINTAGE EMBROIDERED LINEN

I have a big collection of old embroidered tablecloths and the like that I have been hoarding for years. I’ve cut quite a bit out of some of them leaving some odd shaped pieces.

For my next pony (which in fact became a unicorn) I used the biggest pieces and added in extra areas at the extremeties until I had enough for the whole pony shape. Even though the linens were a bit thicker than craft cotton they are old and delicate so I decided to quilt these also. I did leave a little extra for shrinkage but I knew I wouldn’t need so much as I was quilting these lightly with a grid.

I used my Hera marcher (creasing tool) to mark out 1″ diagonal grid and then quilted this on the machine using Aurifil 12wt cotton. This goes in the top of the machine with regular 50wt thread in the bobbin.

I also change my needle to a number 90 or 100. My stitch length is again set at 4 and I always sew a little slower with the quicker thread. I never need to adjust my tension but you might need to depending on your machine. Machine quilting with the 12wt gives a wonderful effect like a very neat back stitch by hand. You can use Aurifil 12wt wool in exactly the same way.

I used a variegated blue and white on one side (4663) and an orange and white on the other (4668).

What a pretty unicorn she turned out to be!!

GUSSET

When you create these patchwork panels for the outer panels what do you use for your gusset strip? Well as this is a sustainable project I have been trying to use stuff up here too and also finding something that matched the outer panels in both colour and weight.

For the latest unicorn (left) I used a vintage pillow case that I had kept since childhood. These pastel strips of brushed cotton will be familiar to many my age!

For the Handsome Boy pony I used some furnishing fabric left overs (more of that below) and for the Improv House unicorn (above right) I used an old decorative Cath Kidston tea towel that had been too nice to use on the dishes!

There is no need to do anything with the gusset at this point, just a good time to think about what you will use. I haven’t yet tried using lighter cotton and quilting the gusset strip, I prefer to use a heavier weight fabric instead. But it would be interesting to try it!

Lastly let’s take a look at making your pony out of fabric with no patchwork and quilting at all.

In the pattern I list some ideas for using different pre-loved fabrics. I made my pony from an off-cut of furnishing fabric. Many years ago we had an interior design side to our family business and had a stock of these ‘hangers’ with sample lengths of fabric. This classic (and stunning!) Jane Churchill fabric is called Indian Summer and I’ve kept the sample pieces for years. The design has been a huge inspiration for me with it’s peacocks, elephants and prancing horses.  I had hoarded my last pieces but got them out for another pony!

Of course you could decide to quilt this ‘wholecloth’ if you wanted and then just consider the shrinkage issue as discussed above. Otherwise it is very straight forward. I used the same fabric for the gusset strip and also for the Handsome Boy pony.

That concludes our gallop around creating the outer panel! I hope this has provided you with lots of ideas and tips to get you started.

Have a question? Please leave a comment below and I will reply. You can also join the Facebook group for more inspiration and advice. I have changed the name of the Bedding Plants QAL group to ‘Jo Avery’s Sew Alongs’ so I can use it for all future SALs and QALs.  Click here to join if you use FB.

If you prefer to keep your social media for Instagram then do please remember to share you posts using the hashtag #patchworkponysustainablesewalong so we can all find it!

You can also share the badge below with the same hashtag (you can find it in one of my recent SAL posts on my IG feed too).

Thanks so much for joining in and let’s go make ponies together!!